Service Desk Management

The KACE Systems Management Appliance can help you provide your end users with a high quality help desk that’s tightly integrated with the KACE SMA’s IT asset management (ITAM), configuration management, reporting, and alert capabilities. The KACE SMA’s service desk capabilities provide advanced functionality to automate repetitive tasks, along with robust incident management (e.g. ticketing) capabilities. The integration of the service desk with other KACE SMA processes enables you to deploy a single solution for IT asset management, endpoint security and end user support, reducing both the human and financial resources required for complete lifecycle management of your connected systems and devices.

How it works:

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Improve IT efficiency with a comprehensive, integrated help desk

The KACE SMA’s service desk utilizes the KACE SMA as its underlying configuration management database (CMDB). That means context-sensitive information from key KACE SMA modules — such as device inventory and device and user history — are linked directly into the service desk functionality. This enables help desk administrators to easily accomplish many tasks, including providing remote support to remedy a problem directly from the KACE SMA service desk. They can also easily move to the KACE SMA’s other capabilities as needed for further problem analysis and resolution; for example, distributing a software update or deploying a patch. All activities are tracked to ensure easy benchmarking of service levels and auditing for compliance.

Customize KACE SMA to fit your organization’s needs

The KACE SMA service desk is fully customizable to fit your organization's unique requirements. Virtually any field or field value — from SLA’s to workflow and escalation rules to email notifications and queues — can be customized, and you can set up your own new fields. You can also create processes for standard, repeatable tasks, such as new-employee onboarding, that include multiple interdependent activities that may have a preset sequence and require approvals at multiple levels. Once the process is created, multiple interdependent tickets are automatically created and assigned to appropriate personnel each time you run it.

Provide powerful ticket management

The KACE SMA’s service desk can maintain multiple support queues and rules to govern the flow of tickets ̶ whether they are incident- or process-based. You can pre-define ticket queues based on skill sets and location, and then distribute them according to owner workload to ensure you meet appropriate service levels. Ticket assignments can be automated based on hierarchical categories or manually assigned, and escalation notifications can be set to generate email alerts if tickets are not promptly addressed. Tickets can also be set up with parent-child relationships to automate closure of dependent tickets and add structure to related tasks that must be completed prior to closure of an umbrella work order.

Generate robust reporting and SLA controls

The KACE SMA tracks ongoing service processes and reports changes in ticket status to appropriate parties. In addition, the KACE SMA provides detailed reports to track help desk performance and responsiveness, including the granular ability to define and track resolution timeframes. Pre-packaged reports and an intuitive custom report wizard make it easy to assess compliance with service level agreements (SLAs) and overall service desk workload. Service desk tickets can also be archived for compliance-audit and other purposes. The end result is improved management of service desk SLA’s and reporting, as well as increased user satisfaction.

Reduce desk visits with remote support

The KACE SMA’s service desk also provides remote control capabilities to help you resolve issues without initiating a desk-side visit. The KACE SMA comes with out-of-the-box remote support via Ultra VNC and supports third-party remote control solutions, such as Bomgar, Dameware, NetOps and Windows Remote Desktop. The KACE SMA also integrates with Intel vPro technology to provide enhanced remote management and recovery capabilities on PCs with vPro technology.

Enable self-sufficiency with KACE SMA’s end-user portal

The KACE SMA provides your end users with an intuitive self-service portal where they can access a flexible knowledge base for self-help, locate hardware and software inventory information for their systems, install IT-sanctioned software packages, and submit and view the status of their support tickets. They can also follow IT-generated links to other self-service tools such as Password Manager, for completing self-service password management tasks. Secure user authentication can be provided via integration with Active Directory/LDAP, while single sign-on allows users to easily and seamlessly access the KACE SMA user self-service portal with their corporate logon credentials.

Provide mobile access with KACE Go Mobile App integration

The KACE SMA Service Desk is also integrated with the KACE Go Mobile App, which is a free app for Android and iOS devices. With the KACE Go, you can review and respond in real-time to service desk notifications, examine inventory details and deploy software and patches directly from your mobile device. KACE Go also allows end users to submit service desk tickets, access the knowledge base and check on an existing ticket’s status from their mobile devices.

Easily resolve issues with integration to the ITNinja knowledgebase

ITNinja.comis an independent IT administrator forum managed by us. It provides a comprehensive database of systems management information and best practices. The KACE SMA’s service desk is integrated with ITNinja.com to provide context-relevant information to you and your organization’s end users. This integration helps make your help desk more effective by enabling end users to resolve many issues on their own without submitting a ticket, and by providing you valuable information to help you resolve tickets faster.